vocabulary. Computer terms are highlighted.

It’s March, 2050. Frank and Mary Smith wake up in their comfortable house overlooking the sea and switch on the bedroom computer to give them a news update. They used to take the Times, but changed to electronic newspapers many years ago.

There is the usual stuff about space: another mission has returned from Mars and scientists have discovered a new planet. No big deal. There was great excitement back in 2027, when signals were received from Titan which indicated that there might be life on a remote moon, but efforts to make contact came to nothing. The Catholic Church is going to elect a black Pope. Interesting, but religion does not play a Interesting, but religion does not play a significant role in their lives. Financial news: the Euro has risen sharply in Shanghai, one of the world’s leading business centres. Mary tells the computer to buy 5, 000 Euros, and there is instant confirmation that the transaction has been done.

As they watch the screen, Frank and Mary take their usual weight control pills, and order one of the household robots to make coffee. Frank disappears into the study to join a live videoconference with his colleagues around the world. He is a computer programmer, working for several companies on a contract basis. This is his third career.

Mary has a quick look at the shopping channel before picking up the video phone to talk to a colleague. She also has a job, which she shares with several others. Both she and Frank used to have an office desk in London, but in 2014 they decided to move to the seaside and work from home.

Frank and Mary have one child, Louise, who also has her own workstation in the family home. She goes to school only one day a week, mainly to play with other children. Classrooms vanished in 2030 because there was no longer any need for them: interactive communications systems have made it much easier to learn at home. Louise is currently studying Chinese, which has become as important as English as a world language. With her friends she communicates by computer.

According to the medical experts, Louise will live to at least 130. She intends to work for a few decades and then devote her time to music and painting. Louise has given little thought to marriage, which she regards old-fashioned, and she is not sure whether she will ever want to have a child. She likes the idea of a serious relationship, and thinks there will probably be several during her lifetime, she is not going to tie herself down to one person.

Would you like the idea of such a future for yourself? Why? Why not?

Make up a dialogue with a classmate and persuade him/her of the importance of having a mobile phone. Use the following words and phrases.

- establish effective communication;

- save time;

- become accessible anywhere;

- an opportunity to use and process information from the Internet;

- provide wireless access to the Internet;

- access information on the Internet easily;

- save money and trouble;

- receive a wide range of information for business and private use.

3. Expand the idea in your own words:

… huge numbers of people are already experiencing the true power of information through the Internet.

… the Internet has already turned into an integral part and driving force of the contemporary civilization.

… most mobile phones sold by that time will be multimedia-capable.

… the range of information available will constantly expand, bringing additional benefits to users.

Irregular Verbs List

 

Base Form	Simple Past Tense	Past Participle
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was, were	been
bear	bore	born
beat	beat	beat
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
beset	beset	beset
bet	bet	bet
bid	bid/bade	bid/bidden
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burned/burnt	burned/burnt
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dived/dove	dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed/dreamt	dreamed/dreamt
drive	drove	driven
drink	drank	drunk
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fit	fit	fit
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forget	forgot	forgotten
forego (forgo)	forewent	foregone
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forsake	forsook	forsaken
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt	knelt
knit	knit	knit
know	knew	know
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leap	leaped/leapt	leaped/leapt
learn	learned/learnt	learned/learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lighted/lit	lighted
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
misspell	misspelled/misspelt	misspelled/misspelt
mistake	mistook	mistaken
mow	mowed	mowed/mown
overcome	overcame	overcome
overdo	overdid	overdone
overtake	overtook	overtaken
overthrow	overthrew	overthrown
pay	paid	paid
prove	proved	proved/proven
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
rid	rid	rid
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
saw	sawed	sawed/sawn
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
sew	sewed	sewed/sewn
shake	shook	shaken
shave	shaved	shaved/shaven
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	showed/shown
shrink	shrank	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
sow	sowed	sowed/sown
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped	sped
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilled/spilt	spilled/spilt
spit	spit/spat	spit
split	split	split
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang/sprung	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
stink	stank	stunk
strike	struck	struck
string	strung	strung
strive	strove	striven
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swell	swelled	swelled/swollen
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
thrive	thrived/throve	thrived
throw	threw	thrown
thrust	thrust	thrust
tread	trod	trodden
understand	understood	understood
uphold	upheld	upheld
upset	upset	upset
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
weave	weaved/wove	weaved/woven
weep	wept	wept
wind	wound	wound
win	won	won
withhold	withheld	withheld
withstand	withstood	withstood
write	wrote	written

 

REFERENCES

 

1. Freebairn I. Blueprint, Course book (Preintermediate), Longman, 2006.

1. Abbs B., Freebairn I. Blueprint, Course book (Intermediate), Longman. 1995.

2. Сotton D., Falvey D., Kent S. Language Leader. Course book (Intermediate), 2008.

3. Cunningham S., Moor P. Cutting Edge, Course book (Intermediate), Pearson Longman, 2003.

4. Kirn E., Hartmann P. Interactions I., A Reading Skills Book, McGrow-Hill, Inc., USA, 1990.

5. Mitchell H.Q. Traveller, Course book (Intermediate), MM Publications, 2009.

6. Molinsky S., Bliss B. Line by Line (English through Grammar stories). Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632, 2000.

7. Moreton W. Total English, Course book (Intermediate), Pearson Longman, 2006.

8. Soars Liz & J. Headway, Course book (Preintermediate), Oxford Univ. Press, 1998.

9. Soars Liz & J. Headway, Course book (Intermediate), Oxford Univ. Press, 1998.

10. Soars Liz & J. Headway, Course book (Upper Intermediate), Oxford Univ. Press, 1998.

11. Матеріали Інтернету.